Everything Changes
by BubblyShell22
Summary: Erin Finnigan reflects on the changes in her life. Takes place after Prodigal Son. Featuring my OC Erin from Erin's Story.


Everything Changes

A/N: You might be asking yourself why I'm posting another story when I'm working on one already. Well, it's a one-shot, so it won't take much time to do. I really thought about doing a story about the events that have taken place between "The Ancient One" up to "Prodigal Son" from one of my OC's point of view. This story will feature Erin Finnigan from my fan fiction entitled "Erin's Story." If you haven't read that, I suggest that you do so that you know what's going on. Certain events from that will be used in this story. Other than that, there's nothing much to say. Erin was fourteen when she met the Turtles and Maureen was seven. Maureen is Erin's sister and will make an appearance in this story. I will assume that the Turtles are at least sixteen now and that would make Erin fifteen, a year younger. Maureen will be eight. I may not have gotten the math right, but sometimes siblings differ in years. Okay, on with the story!

Disclaimer: I don't own the Ninja Turtles or any aspect dealing with them. I only own Erin Finnigan and her sister Maureen. All flames will be cut up by Leo's katanas. You have been warned. Ninja Turtles are owned by Eastman and Laird. Enjoy the story!

Summary: Erin Finnigan reflects on how everything has changed in her life. Takes place during "Prodigal Son." Retells events from "The Ancient One" and "Scion of the Shredder."

Have you ever had a time in your life where everything changes? I have many times. One of the biggest events is when my mom died and my sister and I had to live somewhere else. Luckily, we found four green friends who saved our butts from the Purple Dragons and invited us into their home. Okay, I know it sounds far-fetched, but it's true. The friends I'm talking about are four mutated turtles and their father who's a mutated rat. Now, they're our family, and the only family we've known since the tragedy. Before I get too ahead of myself, let me tell you a little bit about me and my sister and how our lives changed in the first place.

For one thing, our lives changed when our dad died in a car accident. That was a huge change for us. Then, Mom saw her old boyfriend, Brad Carson, who claimed that he'd changed from a drug dealing loser to a reformed gentleman. Mom had dated him before she met Dad. Then, she found out that he was with the Foot Clan and dropped him like a hot potato. Little did she know that Brad would get his revenge by killing her in an explosion. That's the second time our lives changed.

I'll never forget that day. I was upset at my mom and Maureen and told my mom I hated her. After coming home from practicing for the variety show for school, I found out that she died when Maureen and I saw our apartment building in flames. My world came crashing down in that instant. Then we ran into the Purple Dragons, and Leonardo and Raphael, two of our brothers, saved us. Of course at that time, we didn't know they'd become our brothers. Then they let us stay at the Lair and offered us their home. April O'Neil, a friend of our mother's, suggested that we stay at the Lair instead of with her because Brad would have been able to track us down.

Sounds like a happy ending, right? Wrong. Maureen ended up getting kidnapped by the Foot and we had to rescue her. I recklessly went off on my own to try to rescue my sister, a mistake I'll never make again. Luckily, the Turtles came to the rescue, and everything turned out okay, except for the fact that Leo and I got injured in the explosion. But we survived, which was a plus.

Now, I'm fifteen, and things have definitely changed around here. The biggest change that took place was the change in my brother Leonardo. After their final battle with Shredder, Leo became more intense. He trained harder, and he became angry and bitter, something he never had felt before. Maureen tried to open up to him, but he pushed her away. That scared her as well as me. Maureen and Leo always have shared a special bond together, but that bond didn't show up for quite a while. Leo pushed his whole family away and even had the nerve to yell at us. It just wasn't right, and I felt that I couldn't do anything to change him.

One day, Maureen came to me just to talk. "Erin, I'm really worried about Leo," she said. "He's acting different, and it scares me."

"Have you tried talking to him?" I asked her.

"Yeah, but he yelled at me," Maureen said. Her lip trembled and tears filled her eyes. I pulled her into an embrace. One thing I don't like to see is that my sister's sad. I want her to be happy and bubbly like always. But I could tell that Leo's mood affected her, too.

"I don't want him to be mad!" she wailed. "I want him to play with me like he used to!"

"Don't worry, Maureen, he will," I soothed. "He just needs time to snap out of it." However, I didn't know how wrong I'd be. Time wasn't helping Leo at all; it was just making him worse.

Apparently, Splinter felt that Leo needed help and enlisted the aid of Miyamoto Usagi, one of Leo's closest friends. I was so excited to see Usagi again because he was always so nice. I had a feeling that if anyone could snap Leo out of this state, he could. However, I was wrong again. Leo totally blew Usagi off, claiming that he would be the one to decide when to lift the burden. I felt bad for the samurai rabbit and gave him a gigantic hug, reassuring him that he tried his best. Maureen hugged him, too and prayed for the day when Leo would get better.

Then came the fateful day none of us saw coming. We were all doing our own thing while Leo was training with Splinter. Our father was begging Leo to open up, but Leo refused and started being very rude to Splinter. Suddenly, the unthinkable happened: Leo cut Splinter with his sword. We couldn't believe it and gasped aloud, rushing to our sensei's side. Leo himself couldn't believe it and apologized immediately. He looked like he was gonna cry or something. After Donatello bandaged Splinter up, Splinter summoned Leo to his quarters. The rest of us crept to the door to listen to what Splinter had to say. He said that Leo hadn't healed and suggested that it was time for Leo to seek a new sensei. He suggested that Leo seek The Ancient One, someone who had helped Splinter's Master Yoshi. Leo prepared for his journey and left. He didn't say good-bye, but he did leave a note for all of us. He told us to be strong and apologized for the grief he had caused us.

After he left, Maureen came into my room to talk to me. "Erin, do you think Leo will come back to us?" she asked me.

"Of course he will," I reassured her. "He's not one to abandon his family."

"I wish he didn't have to leave," Maureen said wistfully. "I wish we could have helped him."

"We did the best we could," I replied. "Now, it's up to The Ancient One to do it. Maybe he can help Leo snap out of it."

"I hope so," Maureen said. "I want the old Leo back."

Two months passed and Leo didn't come back yet. I spent most of my time with Maureen since I knew she was lonely. She seemed to cling to me, but I didn't mind. I even took her along when I hung out with my friends, something I rarely did before we met the Turtles. My friends knew of Leo's situation and had avoided coming to the Lair after he treated them rudely. They all hoped he would snap out of it and gave us sympathy because we missed him. I caught Maureen looking at a scrapbook Leo had made and my heart ached.

"Come back soon, Leo," I whispered to the sky. "We need you around here."

One day, things seemed to be normal around the Lair. Maureen and I were watching TV. We originally wanted to play Egyptian War, a card game my friends had taught me, but Mikey had stolen the cards to make a card house. Suddenly, Don's perimeter alarms started going off, and then the door started giving way. There stood the Foot, right in our Lair. I couldn't believe it. How had they found us?

Suddenly, everyone just starting fighting and it became a mess. Maureen and I tried to stay out of the way, but the Foot almost got to us. Luckily, Mikey and Donnie had our backs. How we wished Leo was there! He could have helped us out. Then we saw the Shredder coming in, but it wasn't the Shredder himself. It was his bitch daughter Karai. I despised this woman so much, it wasn't funny. I saw her battling with Splinter and wanted to help, but Raph beat me to it.

Then I heard Raph telling us to split up and meet topside. Maureen and I headed for my room, where there was a secret passage that led to the warehouse. We packed what we could and headed out. After we reached the warehouse, we saw Raph get into the Battle Shell. He didn't see us, or I'm sure he would have asked us to come along. The Foot didn't see us either as we left right after they did. I thought maybe they'd spot us in the helicopters, but luck was on our side. Maureen and I screamed as we saw the Battle Shell explode, but there was no time to think about it. Instead, we headed to Kelly Lynch's house. She was one of my best friends, and I knew she'd take care of us.

"Erin, what happened?" she asked. "Why are you here?"

"Kelly, the Foot found us," I gasped. "They found the Lair and trashed it. Everyone's split up, and the Battle Shell just exploded with Raph inside. I don't know if he's dead or not. Leo's not back yet, and I just don't know what to do!" I started to cry.

"Hey, calm down, Erin," Kelly soothed. "We'll work this out. Everything's gonna be okay."

"But, Kelly, they might be dead!" I wailed.

"I doubt it," she said with a grin. "If I know the guys, they've got something planned. Don't sweat it, Erin. It's gonna be okay. Where are the cats?"

"Milo, Oreo, and Yoshi hid," Maureen answered. "We couldn't catch them. I don't know about Klunk. I hope he's okay for Mikey's sake."

"Me too," Kelly said. "Do you want me to call the others to come over?"

"No, I don't want to risk that," I said. "The Foot might find them and kill them. Plus, they'd find out where I am. I think we should just lie low and figure out what to do from there."

The next day, we spent time trying to cheer up, but we couldn't help worrying about the guys. Still, I had a feeling that everything was gonna be fine, and I was right. That night, Leo came to the window. I was so happy to see him!

"Leo!" Maureen cried. She rushed to him and gave him a big hug. He returned it and hugged me, too.

"Leo, the others are gone," I said. "The Battle Shell blew up with Raph inside. I don't know if he's alive or not."

"Don't worry, Erin, he's fine," Leo reassured me. "I found all the others. Where are the other cats? I found Klunk with Mikey, but that's it."

"They didn't make it," Maureen said sadly. "They hid and we couldn't catch them in time."

"Well, that's okay," Leo reassured us. "At least we're all in one piece. Now, let's go home."

"Um, Leo, we don't have one," I pointed out. "The Foot trashed the Lair."

"I know," Leo said with a smile. "I found us a new one. C'mon, I'll show you." We followed him to the sewers and saw what he meant. We were so happy to see the others, and they were happy to see us, too. We all hugged, but Raph was still angry. Leo reassured him that everything would be fine now.

I learned that everything changes over time, but the important thing is that family lasts forever, no matter what. We may have lost our home, but we were still together and that's all that mattered to me. Plus, we had Leo back. He went to get food and supplies and settled the score with Karai, as he told me and Maureen later. He didn't tell anyone else, and we promised not to reveal the secret. After he came back, he told us more about the Ancient One and what he learned. We laughed when we heard that The Ancient One farted all the time.

As we settled down to sleep, Maureen and I snuggled close to Leo. We had missed having him around and we knew that everything was gonna be all right now that he was back.

"It's good to have the old Leo back," Maureen commented.

"It's good to be back," Leo said, hugging us tightly.

I felt the same way. It was good to have someone you loved with you all the time. I knew that one day, I'd have to leave my brothers, but I knew that if I needed them, they'd be there for me. The same went for my sister, too. These experiences taught me to cherish family and also to open up if something's bothering me. One thing was for sure: I didn't want to be a Raph wannabe like Leo had been. One Raph was good enough, two Raphs are too much, and three Raphs would just be scary. Leo taught me to open my mind and to accept change into my life. I've gotta say that I've done that more times than I can count, but I'm ready to face more changes. With my family by my side, I know that I'll be strong enough to face whatever challenges come my way.

A/N: Well, that's it for this story. What did you think? I've never done a first person POV before, so it may not be that great. Sorry about that. Please read and review. I'd really like some feedback on this. Catch ya on the flip side!


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